218 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [April 



that we refrained from obtaining this luxury at a rate so 

 expensive to life, but confined ourselves to the due proportions 

 which fell to our share in treating the whole animal as food. 



It is extraordinary how our liking for porridge grew upon 

 us ; we none of us cared much for it at first ; naval sailors 

 rarely do, and I believe it has lately been struck off the list 

 of food supplied to the naval service ; but with us the taste for 

 this excellent food grew ever stronger both with officers and 

 men, until we not only made our breakfast exclusively from it, 

 but decided to include the more easily cooked variety in our 

 sledge rations. 



'After breakfast the mess-deck is again cleared up in 

 preparation for prayers at 9.15, after which the men are 

 assembled and told off for the work of the day, which is 

 arranged as far as possible so that each man gets his fair share 

 of the outside tasks.' I do not remember a time when there 

 was not a great amount of work to be done. During the latter 

 part of the first winter, and throughout the whole of the second 

 a large party were constantly employed on our sledging outfit, 

 making or repairing sleeping-bags, sledges, tents, cookers or 

 other details of equipment. Out of doors there was generally 

 some work in the digging line, either piling snow around the 

 ship or the huts, or digging out various objects which had 

 become buried, or making holes in the sea-ice for fish traps, 

 or freeing the entrances and the paths to and from the 

 huts, or many other lighter tasks. Then, again, the awning, 

 the chimneys of the stove, and many outdoor instruments 

 needed attention and repair, and few of our heavy winter 

 gales passed without creating some havoc which had to be 

 rectified. 



' Dinner for the men is at one. This varies with the day, 

 but consists always of soup, seal or tinned meat, and either a 

 jam or a fruit tart. After dinner the rum is served out in 

 accordance with naval custom. I am not at all sure the men 

 would not be better without it, but perhaps some would feel 

 aggrieved if it was stopped, and the small daily allowance can 

 do little harm ; of course it will be stopped when the sledging 



